INSOCOAT

Electrically insulated rolling bearings

INSOCOAT The SKF solution

to prolong bearing life in electric
machinery.
What are INSOCOAT
bearings?
SKF provides electrically insulated
bearings, called INSOCOAT, to protect
against damages caused by electric
currents. These bearings have an
electrically insulating coating on the
outer ring (VL0241 execution), or on
the inner ring (VL2071 execution). The
inner ring coating can be made from
bore diameters above and including
70 mm. The coating consists of a
nominal 100-m thick aluminium oxide
layer and is applied by a unique coating process using plasma-spraying
technology.

INSOCOAT bearings with outer ring coating VL0241 execution

Industrial motors

INSOCOAT is a registered trade mark

of SKF sterrich AG.
2

Fig 1

Customer Value
INSOCOAT bearings
provide two features in one
solution:
a bearing function;
electrical insulation.
reduce the number of failures and
improve the machine uptime.
reduce maintenance costs.
are the most economical solution in
comparison with other insulating
solutions.
have global availability thanks to
SKF presence in more than 130
countries and at 7000 distribution
locations world wide.

Total cost

INSOCOAT bearings
Housing insulation
including bearing
cost
Shaft insulation
including bearing
cost

INSOCOAT bearing

Housing
insulation

Shaft
insulation

INSOCOAT bearings provide an economical solution in comparison with other

insulating methods

Traction motors

Generators

INSOCOAT bearing with inner ring coating VL2071 execution

Technical benefits
The standard 100 m layer thickness prevents most current passage
problems.
SKF does 100 % testing to guarantee
a breakdown voltage larger than
1000 V DC. Lab tests show that
electrical breakdown occurs above
3000 V DC.
SKF guarantees a minimum ohmic
resistance of 50 M at 1000 V DC.
The application process using plasma spraying technique in combination with sophisticated pre- and
after preparation of the bearing rings
gives an outstanding coating quality.
INSOCOAT bearings are treated with
a unique sealant ensuring insulation
in humid environments. It is also
insensitive to heat and chemicals.
INSOCOAT bearings provide a better
electrical and mechanical performance than other insulation methods.
SKF can supply values for relevant
electric parameters for the bearing
(capacitance, impedance).

Additional benefits
Simple mounting and dismounting.
INSOCOAT bearings should be
handled with the same care as a
standard bearings.
Shaft fits up to and including p6 can
be applied for both coating variants
(VL2071 and VL0241).
Standard boundary dimensions
according to ISO.
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Environmentally friendly
INSOCOAT bearings are suitable for
all types of housings.
SKF has experience with ceramic
coatings since more than 20 years.
The inner ring coating provides an
enhanced protection of the bearing
against electric current damages. The
underlying improvements are:
Improved insulation at high frequencies compared to outer ring coating
thanks to a smaller coated surface.

Plasma spraying process and equipment

No risk of damaging the housing in

applications which use a loose fit to
the outer ring.
Better protection of the coating
during handling.

The coating process

plasma spraying
technology.
This unique technology has the following benefits:
Plasma spraying is the most versatile
thermal coating process it produces high-performance coatings that
deliver durability and reliability.
The process applies coatings by
injecting aluminum oxide powder into
a high temperature gas stream. The
plasma gas heats the powdered coating material to a molten state and
sprays it onto substrates at high
speeds.
Plasma spraying is extremely flexible
and is ideal for producing a wide
variety of functional coatings.

Assortment
You can find the living assortment for
electrical machinery and railway applications in the enclosed assortment
lists.
If you cannot find the item that you
need in the standard range, please
contact your local SKF representative.

Sources of electric
current
The problem of electric current passing through rolling bearings and causing damage in the contact area of
balls or rollers and raceways of inner
and outer rings has been known for
almost 70 years. In addition to the
damage to bearing elements, it was
also supposed that the structure of the
lubricant itself might change under the
influence of a current passage. All
rotating machines, both AC and DC
motors as well as generators, potentially suffer from this phenomenon.
Classical failures
With sinusoidal line voltages, the bearing current is generated due to asymmetries in the motors magnetic circuit.
The asymmetric flux distribution inside
the motor induces an axial shaft voltage, which further leads to a low-frequency circulating current flowing
through the bearings. Bearing current
is also generated by asymmetric, nonshielded motor cabling. These classical bearing currents are a problem
especially for large motors with low
numbers of pole pairs (e.g. 2-pole
motors). They have larger flux asymmetries than small motors or motors
with many poles.

Shields and seals

Shields and seals are available on
request for some bearings sizes.

High frequency currents

Apart from the classic voltages and
currents generated by the motor itself,
new effects have been observed when
the motor is supplied from a pulse
width modulation (PWM) converter
(frequencies of 3 to 16 kHz). It has
been discovered that the bearing
damages are caused by a high frequency (several kHz MHz range)
current flow. The current originates
from the so called common mode voltage of the freguency converter.
Another origin of current is the high
switching speed of the integrated gate
bipolar transistors (IGBTs) used inside
the converter.
Problems arise because of three types
of currents:
High frequency shaft grounding currents
High frequency circulating currents
Capacitive discharge currents
The reason for the first two types of
currents is the common mode voltage
at the converter output. The common
mode voltage is produced due to the
fact that the sum of the three phase
voltages is not equal to zero ( fig 2 ).
Furthermore, the frequency converter
tries to simulate a sine wave supply by
PWM signals, which have a high switching frequency and very steepedged pulses, which cause capacitive
discharge currents.

Lubrication
It is important to ensure proper lubrication by frequent regreasing.

Fig 2
1
Vu (Udc) 0
-1 0

0,005

0,01

0,015

0,02

0,025

0,03

0,005

0,01

0,015

0,02

0,025

0,03

0,005

0,01

0,015

0,02

0,025

0,03

0,005

0,01

0,015

0,02

0,025

0,03

1
Vv (Udc) 0
-1 0
1
Vw (Udc) 0
-1 0
1
Vcommon (Udc) 0
-1 0

The three phases and their sum

common mode voltage

time (s)

Effects of electric current going

through the bearing
Due to the passage of electric current
in the contact zone of rolling elements
and raceways heat is generated causing local melting of the bearing metal
surface. Craters are formed in the
contact area and particles of molten
material are transferred and partly
break loose. The crater material is
re-hardened and much more brittle
than the original bearing material.
Below the re-hardened layer there is a
layer of annealed material, which is
softer than the surrounding material.

Grease-blackening
Current discharges also cause the
lubricant in the bearing to change its
composition and degrade rapidly.
The local high temperature causes
additives and the base oil to react, and
it can cause burning or charring of the
base oil. Additives will be used up
more quickly. Thus the lubricant gets

almost hard and blackened ( fig 6 ).

A rapid breakdown of the grease is a
typical failure mode that results from
current passage.

Fig 4

Micro-cratering
Because frequency converters are
more and more used micro-cratering
is by far the most common effect of
electric current passage. The damaged
surface appears dull, characterised by
molten pit marks ( fig 4 ). Multiple
micro-craters cover the rolling element
and raceway surfaces. Crater sizes
are small, mostly from 5 to 8 m in
diameter, disregarding whether it is on
the inner ring, outer ring or a rolling
element. The real shape of these
craters can only be seen under a
microscope in very high magnification.
Fluting or washboard
They are patterns of multiple grey
lines across the raceways ( fig 5 ).
They appear shiny and molten. The
reason for this fluting is a mechanical
resonance vibration caused by the
dynamic effect of the rolling elements
when they are over-rolling smaller craters. This means that fluting is not a
primary failure mode produced by the
current flow through the bearing itself.
It is a secondary bearing damage that
becomes visible only after time and
has its initial point from craters.

The dull surface

of the ball is a
sign of microcratering
Fig 5

Fluting or washboard in raceway

Fig 6

Black discoloured
grease affected
by current
discharges

Fig 7

Electric behavior of
INSOCOAT bearings

DC

AC

Impedance and
capacitance
Figure 8 shows a typical graph of the
impedance of a coated deep groove ball
bearing (outer ring coating) ( fig 8 ). Measured impeFigure 8 shows a typical graph of the dance as a funccapacitance of a coated deep groove tion of frequency
ball bearing (outer ring coating)
( fig 9 ).

Capacitance [nF]

One has to distinguish between DC

Description of voltage- Resistance R
Impedance Z
current and AC current applications.
current relationship
In DC applications the insulating coaElectrical behavior
Resistor
Resistor and capacitor
ting acts as a pure resistor where the
in parallel
ohmic resistance R of the aluminum
oxide layer is the important quantity.
Unit
Ohm []
Ohm [], Farad [F]
The breakdown voltage of the stanDC Resistance
Guaranteed more

dard layer is larger than 1000 V DC

than 50 M
and the resistance is larger than
AC Impedance

The value depends on the bearing

50 M, which provides efficient
size and the electric current
insulation of the bearing.
frequency
In AC applications, especially in
AC Capacitance
Constant over the frequency
variable speed drives (VSDs) one has

range; the absolute value is

to consider the impedance of the cerdepending on the bearing size
amic coating. The impedance describes
the voltage-current relationship in AC
circuits. The value of the impedance
Electrical behavior of INSOCOAT bearings in DC and AC applications
depends mainly on two electrical characteristics of the coating: the ohmic
resistance and the capacitance. The
capacitance should be as small as
possible to counteract the effects of
Fig 8
high frequency electric currents.
The impedance of the aluminium
oxide coating can be modelled as a
1000
parallel connection of a resistor and a
capacitor.
100
10
6316 VL0241
1
0,1
0,01
100

1000

10000

100000

1000000

Frequency [Hz]

Fig 9

Capacitance [nF]

7,4
7,2
6316 VL0241

7
6,8
6,6
100

Measured
capacitance

1000

10000

100000

1000000

Frequency [Hz]

More products for trouble free

operation
Your products should run faultlessly.
At least for as long as planned preferably even
longer. To ensure this, there are three basic
requirements:
Use the right bearings. Preferably from SKF.
Mount them correctly. Appropriate skills and the
right tools for the job are imperative.
Ensure proper maintenance. Here, the essentials
are know-how, plus the appropriate tools and
lubricants.

For this reason SKF, the leader not

only in bearing design and manufacturing but in global service, and the SKF
distributors offer customers the most
comprehensive range of tools to
ensure perfect bearing performance.
Induction heaters and mounting
tools to preserve the quality, pullers
for easy removal, equipment and software for the condition monitoring of
bearings and machinery.
In addition, a wide range of greases
of the highest quality for bearing lubrication, consistent in quality, for general and specific requirements, available worldwide through the SKF distribution network.
SKF bearings add value to your
machine, our tools make your life
easy, our distribution network, providing replacement bearing, tools and
greases ensures the commitment of
SKF to your business.

13 special bearing
greases to meet all
application needs

SKF measuring
equipment

SKF induction
heaters and hot
plate

SKF pullers
product range

The SKF Group

a worldwide corporation
SKF is an international industrial Group
operating in some 130 countries and
is world leader in bearings.
The company was founded in 1907
following the invention of the selfalign-ing ball bearing by Sven
Wingquist and, after only a few years,
SKF began to expand all over the
world.
Today, SKF has some 45 000 employees and around 80 manufacturing
facilities spread throughout the world.
An international sales network includes a large number of sales companies and some 7 000 distributors and
retailers. Worldwide availability of SKF
products is supported by a comprehensive
technical advisory service.
The key to success has been a consistent emphasis on maintaining the
highest quality of its products and

10

services. Continuous investment in research and

development has also played a vital
role, resulting in many examples of
epoch-making innovations.
The business of the Group consists
of bearings, seals, special steel and a
comprehensive range of other hightech industrial components. The experi-ence gained in these various fields
provides SKF with the essential knowledge and expertise required in order
to provide the customers with the most
advanced engineering products and
efficient service.

The SKF Group is the first major bearing

manufacturer to have been granted approval
according to ISO 14001, the international
standard for environmental management
systems. The certificate is the most comprehensive of its kind and covers more than
60 SKF production units in 17 countries.

The SKF Engineering & Research Centre

is situated just outside Utrecht in The
Netherlands. In an area of 17 000 square
metres (185 000 sq.ft) some 150 scientists,
engineers and support staff are engaged in
the further improvement of bearing performance. They are developing technologies
aimed at achieving better materials, better
designs, better lubricants and better seals
together leading to an even better understanding of the operation of a bearing in its
application. This is also where the SKF Life
Theory was evolved, enabling the design
of bearings which are even more compact
and offer even longer operational life.

SKF has developed the Channel concept in

factories all over the world. This drastically
reduces the lead time from raw material to
end product as well as work in progress
and finished goods in stock. The concept
enables faster and smoother information
flow, eliminates bottlenecks and bypasses
unnecessary steps in production. The
Channel team members have the knowledge and commitment needed to share the
responsibility for fulfilling objectives in areas
such as quality, delivery time, production
flow etc.

SKF manufactures ball bearings, roller

bearings and plain bearings. The smallest
are just a few millimetres (a fraction of an
inch) in diameter, the largest several metres.
SKF also manufactures bearing and oil
seals which prevent dirt from entering
and lubricant from leaking out. SKF's
subsidiaries CR and RFT S.p.A. are among
the world's largest producers of seals.

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 SKF is a registered trademark of SKF.

Copyright SKF 2002
The contents of this publication are the
copyright of the publisher and may not
be reproduced (even extracts) unless
permission is granted. Every care has
been taken to ensure the accuracy of
the information contained in this publication but no liability can be accepted
for any loss or damage whether direct,
indirect or consequential arising out of
the use of the information contained
herein.
Publication 5225 E
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